Groundbreaking Chemo Tumor Treatment for Sea Turtles
A groundbreaking alternative procedure used to treat tumors on sea turtles was performed at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital Saturday, in partnership with researchers from the University of Florida.
The electrochemotherapy treatments, the first of their kind in the United States, are part of a pilot study being conducted on green sea turtles with fibropapilloma, cauliflower-like tumor growths that develop as a result of a herpes-like virus affecting many sea turtles around the world.
The virus does not affect humans.
Researchers want to help get these growths under better under control because green sea turtles are a threatened species. Traditionally, the tumors have been surgically removed, but the surgery is more complicated and stressful for infected turtles.
�We came down to the Florida Keys to help here at the Marathon Turtle Hospital with a groundbreaking treatment,� said Dr. Anna Szivek, assistant professor of oncology at the veterinary college of University of Florida. �The type of treatment we�re doing is called electrochemotherapy, and the nice thing with it it�s much less invasive than a surgical removal.�
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Photo from South Florida Reporter.
